West New Britain (WNB) Governor, Sasindran Muthuvel has raised serious concerns about funding shortages hurting many provinces in Papua New Guinea (PNG), including his. He is worried that the delays in receiving funds from the National Government may be due to the fact that he and his province are in the Opposition. "The WNB Provincial Government has only received 30 percent of its appropriated funding per the 2024 national budget so far.” He pointed out that the last funding received was five months ago in April, which has led to major issues for the province. "Since then, there has been an obvious absence of further funding, raising serious concerns about how essential services such as education, health, agriculture, law and order, and village courts can continue to function." The budget for West New Britain (WNB) was set at K42 million for 2024, but so far, the province has only received K13 million. The health services in WNB have also been impacted with the WNB Provincial Health Authority (PHA) receiving only 40 percent of its funding. The last funding issued in May totalling K10,187,924 out of the K24,864,300 budgeted for the year. "Without the release of the remaining funds, many essential services and projects throughout the province will suffer," Governor Muthuvel said. He noted that the delayed funds are vital for various services, including the Administration Grant, public servants' leave fares, and education function grants. These funds are needed to provide basic services as recommended by the National Economic and Fiscal Commission (NEFC). The governor warned, "The worrying situation is our hospital has dramatically scaled down services, only prioritising emergency services and essential services. Any further funding delays will no doubt lead to an increase in disease, loss of lives, and other medical emergencies." Governor Muthuvel also pointed out that none of the Public Investment Program (PIP) budget appropriations for WNB have been released, which include important projects like the Kimbe to Kandrian Road and the New Britain Highway. "We have come to a situation where our prison is low on food rations, our hospital is scaling down services, and our province cannot cope with our costs,” he said. With the November Parliament budget session approaching, the governor is worried that if these funds remain unreleased, WNB may face even more challenges next year. "My call is simple: release our funds and be fair with the people’s money," he urged. He emphasized that Prime Minister James Marape is the one who decides how funds are distributed. "I have been told numerous times by bureaucratic leaders that it is the PM who makes the call on where funds should go. So, it begs the question why certain provinces and districts are suffering; is it because we are in Opposition?” “I simply ask for what is rightly appropriated to be given to our people.”